Olympic Torch to visit Bletchley Park

The Olympic Torch will be making a stop at Bletchley Park on its way to London next year, it was announced yesterday.

As part of the route, there will be a photo op at the WWII code-breaking centre, one of the special host locations.

The Olympic Flame will start out in Greece and hit the UK on 18 May on its way to the London 2012 Olympics, which are due to start on 27 July.

On 9 July, schoolkids and residents of Milton Keynes will be able to see the torch progress through the town and Bletchley Park.

"We are delighted and honoured that the Olympic Torch will be visiting Bletchley Park next year," said Simon Greenish, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust. "It is symbolic that 2012 also marks the Centenary of Alan Turing's birth; Turing himself being a world-class athlete of Olympic standards."

“Bletchley Park's inclusion in the Torch Relay is a fitting tribute to the achievements of Turing and all his codebreaking colleagues," he added.

According to a tweet from The National Museum of Computing, there are rumours that George the Robot will also be part of the Torch celebrations.

George is a humanoid radio-controlled robot made in 1950 by the late Tony Sale, a Bletchley Park founding father, when he was just 19 years old. ®